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Saturday, April 28, 2012

comet

A comet consists mostly of ice, but an
asteroid is made of rock and metal. Crash some asteroids into each other
and you get small pieces that break off, called meteoroids. When a
meteoroid enters Earth’s atmosphere it leaves a visible streak of light
and becomes known as a meteor. We generally refer to it as a falling
star or shooting star. When a meteoroid hits the gr...ound
on Earth it is known as a meteorite. About 500 small meteorites fall to
earth every year but most fall in the sea and in unpopulated areas.
They are small because meteoroids break up in Earth’s atmosphere, most
are just vaporized before hitting land or sea. A meteorite can be the
size of a small rock but most are smaller than a pea. The chances of
being hit by a meteorite is very small. Animals are occasionally hit and
there are many claims and reports of people being hit by a meteorite
but most of those claims could not be verified.